The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
Council reports that crew walked off job, leaving safety issues behind
Passersby may have noticed the absence of the Swagger Construction crews onsite at the C-Bar Estates development for the last three weeks, leaving the remaining open areas to tap into sewer lines in the roadway unprotected and unfinished.
At last week’s workshop, Pine Haven’s council discussed with Town Attorney Pat Carpenter the lack of safety protocol followed onsite as well as continued discrepancies regarding contractual agreements between the town, DEQ and C-Bar developers Freedom Holdings. The council initiated a stop work order until Swagger addressed these issues.
Shortly thereafter, the crew walked off the job. According to Brandenburg, “That’s between [the developers] and Swagger…They’re trying to hire a new crew, better yet, they’re trying to find someone to finish the job – another contractor. They started out doing that in the spring and couldn’t find anybody then and they’re certainly not going to find anybody now.”
Addressing the specific problem they have left unresolved, though, the mayor said, “Either way, we’ve got to get those holes covered. Either they need to send somebody up here to just fill in the holes or we need to go over and do it and charge their account.”
She allowed their efforts to begin this endeavor, but the walk-off stopped the work before they could make the now-abandoned site safe or secure. At this point, Brandenburg stated, the ground around the holes is not safe from sinking.
The council continues efforts to bring the site into some protective control as the area approaches winter, and with this in mind, Councilwoman Suzette Edwards suggested a deadline for the developers to alleviate the existing safety issues including the open holes and lack of fencing around the site as well as a plan for completion.
When asked, she noted that, with the site being abandoned for three weeks already, August 12 should give Freedom Holdings ample time to get the situation under some control.
Mayor Brandenburg and the remaining council agreed with the knowledge that they, too, may have difficulty finding help to take care of these problems in a timely manner.
After discussing the next move for the town with Freedom Holdings, the developers have informed the mayor that they are hiring a local contractor to complete the work, which will probably be complete some time next year, barring bad weather.
